Engineers Ireland welcomes €1.5 billion additional capital investment

Engineers Ireland welcomes €1.5 billion additional capital investment

13 July 2017 at 14:16

Engineers Ireland has welcomed this week’s (12 July 2017) announcement of further capital investment over the coming years as vital to the country’s sustainability and prosperity.

In the ‘Summer Economic Statement 2017’, Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, Paschal Donohoe TD, set out the Government’s intention to invest an additional €500 million in infrastructure in each of the years 2019-2021. This increase will bring Government capital investment to €7.8 billion by 2021.

Engineers Ireland agrees with the Minister that such increases in capital expenditure are needed to improve the resilience of the economy, to address emerging capacity constraints, and to better meet the needs of our people as our economy and society grow.

This Statement by Government comes ahead of the publication and launch next week by Engineers Ireland of the seventh-annual TheState of Ireland Report – a detailed evaluation of the country’s infrastructure needs in 2017.

The report’s analysis is based on a series of panel discussions of leading expert engineers and decision-makers across the private and public sectors – reflecting the central role played by the engineering profession in the planning, design and delivery of infrastructure.

The State of Ireland 2017 makes recommendations for priority infrastructure projects, focusing on the transport and communications sectors, which will be pivotal for the country’s prosperity, connectivity and sustainability.